David Lammy visits Highgate Wood School

Highgate Wood Secondary School has launched a month-long celebration of Black heritage with a panel talk featuring Tottenham MP David Lammy. 

Lammy was joined by Heidi Mirza – professor of race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths University – for a two hour-long discussion and Q&A last night (Tuesday, 5th October). 

Staff, students and parents attended the event, during which the speakers discussed their lives, careers and the challenges they have faced as people of colour in Britain. Lammy – who was born in Tottenham, but attended secondary school in Peterborough – shared his experiences as the only Black student of 750. Meanwhile, Mirza recalled the explicit racism she encountered after moving from Trinidad to England in 1973, aged 16. 

Lammy also regaled students with tales of his time in the US, where he became the first Black Briton to attend Harvard Law School, meeting his “good friend”, the former president Barack Obama. 

One sixth form student said he had been “inspired” to go into politics as a result of the talk.  

It was the first of several events taking place at Highgate Wood throughout October. Students will also have the opportunity to hear from stylist Denise Brown (who has worked with the likes of Stormzy and Rihanna), news reporter Greg McKenzie and the activist Lee Lawrence (whose mother, Cherry Groce, was shot by police officers in 1981, sparking the Brixton riots). 

The school will also be hosting a film festival focussing on Black British history, while students from KS4 and KS5 will take part in a virtual debate with students in New York regarding use of the ’N’ word. 

Headteacher Patrick Cozier said he is keen for such activities to continue throughout the year: “Black heritage is really important to us. We’ve specifically gone with the heritage rather than the history, because the word history can be loaded with negative connotations, whereas heritage is much more about celebration.

“We have a lot of Black heritage children in our school, and I don’t think we have done enough to celebrate them in recent years. This is going to be the start of that process.”

David Lammy said: “I do a lot of events during Black History Month. The hope is that a young child – Black or white – who’s struggling with identity issues gets something from what you’ve said, and it just lifts their shoulders and puts them in a different place. 

“This stuff was not available [for Heidi and I]. There weren’t lots of speakers coming through at all, so you never had a sense of yourself in the world.

“I suspect both Heidi and I would have known that there were many more young people like us had more of these forums been available.”